Teach Your Monster to Read

My 4 year old is on break from preschool and I've been trying to work with her on some reading skills and getting her used to the idea of homeschool (which she is really excited about).  She's a few lessons into Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  She loves it!  LM has always been my "independent reader".  She loves books.  She likes to "read" them all day every day.  When I read to her, I have to give her another book to hold or she'll interrupt me the whole time I'm reading.  Last year I read about a free website that works with beginning readers called Teach Your Monster to Read.  SM has already completed the 2 levels (we're hoping for more levels soon).  LM is half way through the second level now.

I like that it is free.  The girls love that they can create a monster and add accessories to it as they advance through the levels.  One fault that I have found is that the narrator is difficult to understand at times.  This makes some of the listening levels harder because it sounds like he's saying one sound but its actually a different one.

www.teachyourmonstertoread.com

 

Fancy Nancy Book Review

SM loves the Fancy Nancy books.  She has several of the picture books, but we recently discovered the I Can Read beginning readers.  SM loves that Nancy always dresses and talks "fancy".  I love that she uses "fancy" words and gives a definition in the story.  The bonus is that SM doesn't even realize that she is learning new words this way.  The end of each book has a glossary of Fancy Nancy's Fancy Words - which repeats each of the words in the story with the definition.
   

I had to use this book paired with her new smile!  She really enjoyed this book since she just recently lost another tooth.

Homeschool Headaches

We are about 5 weeks into the school year and have already started having fights about schoolwork.  Last year SM loved math and resisted reading.  This year we have done a flip-flop.  She loves reading and argues over math.  Right now its just with subtraction.  But we spend more time arguing about doing the math then it takes her to actually do it.  Some days we just give up and work on Khan Academy instead.  Other days I just stick to it and we fight the whole time.  This usually results in tears and threats of no privileges or even the dreaded public school.  We have had heart to heart talks and more tears.  Yesterday I asked her what she needed to help her not feel so overwhelmed by subtraction.  We remembered that she had blocks to we used as a manipulative last year.  We pulled those out and immediately the tears and arguing ended.  She finished her page of subtraction in record time today.  Sometimes we just need to change things up a bit and be creative.

Magic School Bus series

A great resource we have found for studying science is the Magic School Bus series.  There are different levels of books as well as videos.  You can even purchase science kits.  Scholastic also has a page that has games and activities.  SM and LM both love the series.  They pick out these books from the library on their own.  We also use them to supplement our science topics for CC.  This week we read In Search of the Missing Bones.  I highly recommend this series.  The girls think they are listening to a fun book, but they are also learning at the same time.  It's great!

Exciting Mommy Moment

Yesterday was our first review day after CC started on Friday last week.  My parents came over to visit that evening and my Mom asked SM how school had been that morning.  SM pulls out our CC trifold board and reads off all of the subject.  Pulls out the US map and points out the 5 states and capitals that we learned and then tries to quiz my parents.  We have definitely come a long way.  SM would not "perform" for others at all last year.  She always knew the materials, but was reluctant to show others what she was learning.  This makes me so excited!!!

Is home-school time consuming?

I was talking with another home-school Mom the other day.  She was saying how a lot of people (that don't homeschool) ask her how she can spend that much time every day.  She kind of laughs at it now because each school day doesn't last that long.  We are usually done with school by lunch time if SM cooperates.   Our time is actually spent learning/teaching. This isn't like public school where there are a bunch of other kids that the teacher has to keep on track.  We can focus and individualize the learning and get it done quickly because it's just one or two kids.  One of the things that I love about CC is that when LM is added to the mix we will be covering the same memory work.  The two girls will be working together on most of the material.  Then I can spend individual time on math and reading.

I do spend some time researching, but most of it is reading emails and blogs or on Pinterest.  I can spend 30 minutes here and there doing that.  I love doing the research part ... I'm bad about implementing it.  At this point in time though, SM is getting everything that she needs.  All of my research is for other things to supplement the material we are covering or some fun acitivities that I might want to try one day.  One of the big things that is stressed in CC is a "stick in the sand" mentality.  Keep it simple.  We don't need to go overboard on extra stuff.  I have a list of books that I check out of the library to supplement the topics we are covering in CC.  If we get to it, great, if we don't it's no big deal.

I love being home and being able to do this with my girls.  There are moments of frustration, but I know that this is the best thing for my girls.  This is how I want to be spending my time right now!

Schedule and Planning

So do I keep a schedule?  Yes and no.  I was excited about thinking we could have a laid back home-school schedule and be able to run errands in the morning and then come back home and work on school.  It turns out that this does not work for SM.  She thinks that if we run some errands first thing in the morning that we don't have to work on school work that day.  This usually turned into knock-down-drag-out fights (not really, but it kind of felt like that sometimes).

I don't follow a strict schedule though.  We have a Bible study (I usually try to start with this, in hopes that it gets are minds/hearts in the right place).  We review our CC memory work (at least 20 minutes), math (goal is about 30 minutes or no more than 5 pages in her math workbook), reading (at least 30 minutes for her and I read to her for 30 minutes).  Somewhere in there I have her writing things.  Last year was mostly copy-work, but this year I will have her writing simple sentences as well.  The copy-work was usually done while I was reading to her.  We were usually done with school by lunch time every day.

I'm not a big planner either.  I do have goals that I want SM to meet each year, but I don't have a time frame for them.  Last year she met her math goal by the Christmas break and finished her reading lesson book by the end of January.  That didn't mean we were done with school though.  I added different programs and books into the mix.  

I do tons of research on homeschooling resources, but I don't seem to put it to use very well.  I subscribe to several homeschooling blogs.  I have several homeschooling themed boards on Pinterest (I have more home-school boards then anything else).  I follow some CC channels on YouTube.  I tend to go week to week with the CC subjects and even day to day with the other stuff.  I fill in my planner as we go (it's more for documentation purposes).  The most planning I seem to do is when we go to the library every 3 weeks - planning out the books that correlate with the next 3 weeks of CC.

This year is going to be different.  I'm going to be a substitute tutor for CC this year.  I'm a little nervous because as I've said - I'm not a planner!!! (Ssshhh, don't tell my CC Director).  My goal is to be prepared each week for CC in case I get the call.  I think this will be good for us, because that will just have me more prepared for the week with SM. So wish me luck!  We start back next week!

Is homeschooling easy?

I want to spend time with my kids.  I want to show them who they are and what they can be.  I want to help train them in the way that they should go.  I ultimately want them to serve God and hold themselves to high standards.  Is it always easy?  No, no, and no.  There are days that I'm tired and cranky.  I do yell at the kids.  I'm a real person.  I want my kids to know that I'm not perfect, but that I'm trying.  I want them to learn how to deal with difficulties in life with me.  I want them to be around others who are committed to them for years not just a semester or school year.  We can focus on our family relationships.  My kids aren't perfect, in fact, most of the bad habits they have learned they probably learned from me or my husband.  We will all face sin, but I want to face sin with my girls and not find out about it later on.

There are days that I want to give up.  Wouldn't it just be easier to send them to public school?  Sure, but what would we lose?  Raising our children well is holy and something that God wants all of us to do.  He has entrusted these precious gifts to us.  I want to encourage others to do this as well.  We can't let modern educational standards rob us or our children of the ability to hide God's word in our hearts.  There are things that I want them to learn from me in truth, not the way some government official decided it should be taught.

Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.  Proverbs 22:6

Why we homeschool and why we chose Classical Conversations

"The answer to our education crisis is for parents to recover their role as parents before the Lord, according to His Word alone.  The biblical answer is to be found in parents assuming the responsibility which God has given to them, and only to them, for the education and upbringing of their children." - Douglas Wilson

I thought that this was an interesting quote and explains one of the reasons we homeschool.  I'm not very good at explaining why we are homeschooling.  It can't be summed up in just a few sentences.  There are so many reasons why we chose this path for our family.  A parent who spends years studying with a child to show themselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15) is far more effective than a stranger with a textbook for a semester.  

I wanted to explain a little bit more about the Foundations program and Classical Conversations.  I've been doing some research so that I can explain it a little better.  I'm still learning about it as well and will probably continue to learn more as the years go by.  CC parents believe that the Lord is redeeming the education of 2 generations - the parents and their children.  I can attest to the fact that I learned so much during our first year of CC.  Our educational endeavors are for the kingdom of God and have results that are not yet revealed. 

It is classical because it emphasizes rote memorization of facts in the early learning years.  "Training the brain to retain".  The classical format is a more biblical model because you can't truly teach science without teaching philosophy, math, logic, and history because God created all things for His glory.  Each piece of creation works toward His purposes.  The story of His word, His world, and His people cannot be taught separately if we are to know His whole story.  We need to have a goal of being able to understand anything that God would reveal to us and use that knowledge within our talents.  Foundations is a 3 year memorization program.  The kids (and parents) memorize history timelines and sentences, math and science facts, geography, Latin, and English grammar.  This is a basic framework of facts that all 12 year olds should know so that they are capable of studying advanced topics.  They learn it during the early years to establish the basic knowledge or vocabulary of a subject.  

By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. (Proverbs 24:3-4)  To learn something new you must memorize the vocabulary and basic rules and patterns associated with a subject (grammar/knowledge), process the new information so that you understand it (dialectic/understanding), and then do something with it to demonstrate mastery (rhetoric/wisdom).  Young children are designed to memorize huge amounts of new information.  Middle school age children have the ability to ask why and argue, which demonstrates that they are ready to think more abstractly.  Older children are more interested in knowing what they are going to do with all of this knowledge and information that they have acquired.  They also memorize complete sections of the Bible:  Ten Commandments (Cycle 1), Ephesians 6 (Cycle 2), and part of John 1 (Cycle 3).


CC looks back to the one-room schoolhouse approach of early America, by offering one tutor classes and seminars that emphasize teaching the tools of learning and the interrelationship of subjects.  It is attempting to recapture the idea that a teacher who knows how to learn can teach a student the tools with which to learn any subject.  There are 3 reasons that CC is set up this way.  1.  Homeschool parents have to teach more than one subject to more than one age group at a time.  CC shows us that we can study and teach multiple subjects to multiple ages and abilities at one time.  2.  A strength of homeschooling from a biblical worldview is the integration of subjects.  3.  We constantly strive to show students that all subjects are important because they reveal God's glory.  The goal is to prepare leaders who understand the interrelationships between ideas and actions, language patterns and math patterns, and science and theology.  CC offers weekly student programs, books, Parent Practicums and student camps, record keeping, annual standardized testing, and other educational services.



This diagram was used in the Parent Practicums and I thought it was a great illustration.

What is Classical Conversations?

Many people ask me what curriculum I use for homeschooling or whether or not we belong to a co-op.  Then I get asked what is Classical Conversations?  Classical Conversations (CC) is based on the classical model of learning which is divided into 3 stages:  grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric.  It uses the framework of a biblical worldview with the goal of knowing God and making Him known.  Proverbs 24:3-4 "By wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established; 4 And by knowledge the rooms are filled With all precious and pleasant riches."

The grammar stage is mostly memorizing facts.  This is the Foundations program (K4 through 6th grades).  The kids load facts from a variety of subjects (history, geography, english, latin, math, and science).  They also practice public speaking, do a science project, and complete an art or music project each week.  Starting at the age of 4 (or whatever age they start) the kids prepare a weekly presentation to give to their class.  The tutors provide feedback about eye-contact, voice volume, and visual aids.  This is to prepare them for the high school years of rhetorical speech and debate.

The dialectic stage is discovering how the facts relate.  This is the Essentials program (4th through 6th grades).  They meet in the afternoons after Foundations is finished.  The kids develop the mental skills to sort and classify facts and learn the tools necessary to become effective writers.  Next comes Challenge A & B (7th and 8th grades).  The kids become more independent and begin to learn logic and debate.

The rhetoric stage is applying the facts.  This is the Challenge I, II, III, & IV programs (9th through 12th grades).  The kids draw upon all of the grammar and dialectic skills that they have learned as they discuss and lead discussions.  In these classes they can fully express themselves in creative, meaningful, and practical applications of subjects.  They will also participate in mock trials to help develop their debate skills.

This is just a short description of CC.  I'll be posting more about it in the future.

Interest Led Learning

I've always liked the idea of unschooling or interest led learning, but I'm terrified of not having the structure.  We love Classical Conversations and as posted earlier have ideas for using math and reading in our daily schedule.  When it comes to the other stuff I try to utilize the unschooling approach.  When we first decided to homeschool I read lots of articles on the different ways to homeschool.  There are lots of terms thrown out at you.  I thought this article was helpful in deciphering some of them:  http://www.parents.com/kids/education/home-schooling/homeschooling-methods/

So, how do I use interest led learning?  My girls are both very curious about how things work.  Whenever they hear us talking about things they usually want to know about it too.  They love being outside (except when its really hot).  We love to garden and include them in the process.  They help pick out our plants, plant the seeds, water the garden, and pick the vegetables/fruit.  They have learned about butterflies and chickens just from playing in our back yard.

We have a butterfly garden in our back yard.  This has been an amazing learning experience for our girls.  They love watching the butterflies.  They have a book to help them identify the different types.  We have picked specific plants to attract certain butterflies.  We have milkweed to attract monarch butterflies.  The girls have watched videos and read books about them and they are definitely their favorite.  Little Einsteins and Wild Kratts both have episodes about monarchs, Disney Nature has a movie called Wings of Life that is available on Netflix.  SM received a butterfly habitat from Insect Lore.  We ordered the Painted Lady caterpillars and watched the transformation.  We have used the habitat 3 times since March.  The last time we did things a little different - we watched a monarch butterfly lay an egg on a milkweed plant that happened to be growing in a pot.  We put the whole pot in the habitat and watched the process from the egg hatching to the monarch butterfly.  Its a great learning experience and they don't even realize they are learning.

We also have chickens.  We have 4 hens that are laying and we have 3 pullets that should be laying within the month.  We bought all of them as chicks.  The girls learned to care for them and help collect eggs.  The girls go out and play with them daily.

Bible

At the beginning of the year we read the Bible stories that correlate with the Classical Conversations timeline.  This lasts slightly into the 2nd quarter.  CC also has Bible memory work for the year.  I have SM write a verse a week in her CC notebook.  That helps her memorize the verse and incorporates writing into her school day.

I have also found a website that offered a free daily Bible lesson and journaling activity:  http://peregrina1.wordpress.com/daily-bible-studies/ages-6/ .  It covers the whole Bible in a year.  There are other age ranges available on her site as well.  We've been doing it every school day - so it will take longer than a year (especially since I'll stop during the first quarter of CC).

I also try to review the memory verse that the girls learn at church on Sunday or Wednesday.

Math

Last year we went to a School Aids and purchased a 1st grade math workbook for SM.  I chose 3 that I liked and then let her pick the one that she wanted (I was thinking she might cooperate more if she was the one that picked it).  It turned out that SM absolutely loves math and was done with it by Christmas.  We tried to complete about 30 minutes of math a day - some days that equaled 5 pages others just 1.  I also found lapbooks on time and also money when we came to those areas in the work book.  I decided to go with a 1st grade book because she already knew most of the concepts covered in the Kindergarten books minus time and money (which weren't covered in the books that I looked at).

When we started back after the Christmas break I wasn't sure what to do.  I had read an article about Khan Academy in a Costco magazine and had seen it mentioned by Ron Paul's homeschool website ( https://www.khanacademy.org/about ).  It's a free online program and it tracks progress and sends me weekly reports.  There are badges that SM can earn.  This covers math from basic through college.  We love it.  There are videos and practice problems.  SM has already mastered 36% of the early math mission (which goes through 2nd grade).  There are also other subjects available.  We actually watch some of the other videos on YouTube when they are available for subjects that we are covering in Classical Conversations (CC).

In the fall we will do another math workbook and work on Khan Academy on the side.

What is SM Reading Now?

We followed the recommendations at the end of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  There is a series of books by Margaret Hillert.  SM loves the Dear Dragon series.  The repetitive nature of the book helps build her confidence and she enjoys each of them.  There are other book series available:  Easy Stories, Fairy Tales and Folklore, and Let's Play.  Most of the books are about 28 pages.  At the end there is a reading reinforcement section that covers phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and a word list.  I highly recommend finding these books at the library.  SM now likes to read a book at bedtime as well as during the day.  I had an awesome Mommy moment the other night:  she told me "Mommy, you were right, reading is fun!"  Isn't that what this is all about?
  

Teach Your Child to Read Review

  We are responsible for our own reading curriculum with Classical Conversations.  We used this for reading.  I'm not going to lie and say it was wonderful the whole time.  SM really enjoyed it at first.  At Lesson 74 the book took away the reading hints and SM had a complete meltdown.  After explaining that this was how other books would look she eventually got back to doing the lessons (although still with a fight).  The Lessons have a sound review, saying the words/sounds, rhyming section, reading sentences/stories, picture comprehension, word finding, and sounds writing.  We did not use the sounds writing section because I thought that would be too confusing since I was working with her on spelling and writing in other areas.  There were some Lessons that just seemed too long and we would split those days up.  At the end of the book there are recommendations for what to read next.  Now we go to the library and pick out leveled readers for her.  I've also added a few videos of SM reading from Lesson 100.

Notebooking the Classical Conversations Memory Work

These are a few sample pages from the notebook.  I just bought a composition notebook with the top of the page blank and the bottom part with lines (unruled/primary ruled).  This is how we supplemented language arts using Classical Conversations.  I got the idea from another blog.  In the beginning SM would write her history sentence, science question, and Bible verse and then draw a picture at the top.  After joining CC Connected I was able to download some cut and paste and fill-in-the-blank pages for her to use instead.  These helped a lot because last year was our first year and she was in Kindergarten.  We will keep this notebook and she can add to it when we repeat Cycle 2 in 3 years.  I'm looking forward to seeing how differently she will interpret the history sentences next time around.